Antonio Garcia
Antonio Garcia is the Gold Ranger of the Samurai Rangers. His element is Light and he controls the Octo, Claw, and Light Zords. He is portrayed by Steven Skyler. Personality Unlike his serious counterpart Jayden, Antonio is bright, colorful, and expressive. He is an optimist and always tries to see the bright side of things. Being enthusiastic and hyperactive, it takes quite a time for others to take him seriously. However, Antonio's outlandish expression belies the tactical and technical mind that seems to be at work. Antonio isn't infallible however, and shows depressive tendencies. History An Equal Prior to the series, Antonio was the son of a fisherman who ended up befriending Jayden an at undisclosed point in time during their childhood. The two became fast friends and even trained together. After a time of peace, Antonio was forced to move away. Just before he left, Jayden secretly entrusted the Octo Zord to his best friend; and the two promised to see each other again. A Golden Reunion Antonio makes his way to Panorama City, and decides to reunite with his best friend. He sends a mysterious message to Shiba House VIA arrow that says "See You Soon." Jayden and Emily note the smell of fish emanating from the arrow. While this is happening, the Nighlok Vulpes secretly infiltrates Shiba House and spies on Jayden in an effort to glean knowledge of the Sealing Symbol from him during his training. Meanwhile, Emily and Mike discover Antonio's presence in the city (having connected him with the message-arrow's fishy smell) and pursue him for a time until they are called to assist Jayden, Mia, and Kevin in dealing with Vulpes. The group is out-matched until Antonio arrives on-scene and Morphs into the Gold Samurai Ranger; defeating Vulpes single-handedly and revealing his piloting of the OctoZord. Later, Antonio makes a formal declaration to join the team; hoping to battle alongside his old friend. Nobody other than Mia and Emily seems interested in adding him to the line-up for various reasons. Jayden ultimately decides against adding Antonio to the grup. Outwardly, he says it's due to the fact that he doesn't see Antonio as a Samurai. In reality, it's because he doesn't want his friend to be in constant danger. Ji confiscates Antonio's Morpher as the Golden fisherman insists on staying behind until they change their minds. And change their minds they do, as the new Nighlok Steeleto wants to claim vengeance for the late Vulpes and overwhelms the Rangers using his super-speedy body-blades. As such, Antonio is given the chance to prove himself. After helping the Rangers defeat the new threat, the Samurai accept the Gold Ranger into the fold. Not A Coward Despite Antonio's inclusion in the group, he senses that Kevin doesn't really respect him. So, Antonio hides miniature cameras all across Shiba House in an effort to deduce the nature of the regimen that keeps Kevin so active in the hopes that imitation may flatter him. However, Kevin reveals that he knew about the cameras all along. The two see Octoroo and a new Nighlok called Antberry; who plan to break a pile of stolen children's toys to turn a local well into a back-up Sanzu-water source. They battle Antberry, but the Nighlok's slime proves too much for them to handle; as the two are soon distracted by a Mooger horde, which causes strain on Antonio's arm. Kevin tells Antonio to hide, but he helps the Blue Ranger instead despite his handicap and asserts that he isn't a coward. This endears him to Kevin; allowing the two to work together to formulate a plan to counter Antberry's slime-body: A piece of slime-cloth that strengthens their sword-grip. The two Rangers soon encounter the villains again and fare much better against Antberry. Jayden and the others arrive to assist them, realizing that something was wrong when Kevin didn't return from his jog at his typically designated time. The Gold and Blue Rangers at last have respect for one another, which allows them to defeat Antberry alongside their allies with a combined Finishing move. No Duel for You! The Rangers are assailed by a Mooger horde and the traitorous Nighlok Arachnitor during their visit to a Shiba family monastery; their plans of receiving the artifact known only as the Black Box interrupted. Antonio finds himself in open conflict with Master Xandred's right-hand Octoroo; who has poisoned Jayden's tea with the intent to blackmail the secrets of the Sealing Symbol from him in exchange for a cure. While Antonio deals with Octoroo, (and the Rangers with Arachnitor) Deker uses the distraction as an opportunity to kidnap Jayden in the hopes of challenging him to a duel proper. Antonio later locates the two in a cave by the beach; where he discovers that Deker has nursed Jayden back to health and that the two are about to clash swords. Antonio intervenes however; using Jayden's recent poisoning as an excuse to postpone the duel for a later time. Seeming to respect Antonio's opinion, he acquiesces and lets the two go....but not before a warning that a challenge will be declared at a later time. Deker follows through on his threat no sooner do the Rangers defeat the dream-wandering Nighlok Rhinosnorus. However, Jayden emerges victorious from the duel and is nursed back to health by Antonio and company. The Black Box Antonio spends quite a bit of time attempting to configure the Black Box but to no avail. When the Nighlok Arachnitor shows up with a new mutated form that the Rangers seem unable to handle on their own, Antonio musters all of his strength and manages to activate the ancient artifact. The Gold Ranger then rushes to the Samurai Rangers; who are defending a nearby village from Arachnitor. Jayden uses the Black Box to become Super Samurai Red and effortlessly defeats the foe with the new powers. Fishy A Nighlok called Switchbeast raids an annual junk sale; swapping the souls of the Rangers and various other citizenry into random inanimate objects; leaving them to be killed upon the next trash collection. Antonio found himself swapped into a fish, which was brought back to Shiba House along with the Rangers and their objects by Emily and Mike; the only Rangers unaffected. Whil the two think up a plan to defeat Switchbeast; Mentor Ji places the fish (and by extension Antonio) into the kitchen to be put into the fridge at a later moment. However, a stray cat makes it's way into Shiba house, causing Antonio to nearly be eaten. Even after Switchbeast is demolished by the Green and Yellow Rangers, Antonio is still scarred from the process and develops a phobia against the very thing he is modeled after. This prevents him from Morphing into the Gold Ranger and sinks him into a depression. The Rangers try to displays fears of their own to try and render his inadequate; but end up failing. Mentor Ji tasks Antonio with unlocking the new LightZord in an effort to keep busy while the Rangers investigate another Nighlok attack. A new elite Nighlok named Serrator reveals himself and topples the team. The Samurai seem done for, but Antonio enters into battle as the Gold Ranger and fends the villain off. Antonio later reveals that to dispel his phobia; Mentor Ji plopped a piece of sushi into his mouth when he wasn't looking; the good taste of which cured him immediately. Soundless During a Nighlok attack, Antonio makes the mistake of leaving his Morpher out in the open while he listens to music during a fishing session. Bulk and Spike find his Morpher and mistake it for a cell phone; taking it all around town in an effort to discover it's owner. Unaware of what's going on around him, he ends up unavailable when the Nighlok Armadeevil attacks Panorama City. Eventually, the two fools make their way back to where they started and give up, dropping the Morpher where they found it. Emily and Mike reclaim the Morpher and decide to return it to Antonio; but keep the mystery surrounding thirty-seven missed calls a humorous secret. Desperation Serrator reveals his grand master plan: Using the sorrow contained within a Human/Nighlok hybrid, (Deker) he plans on splitting the border between the Human World and the Netherworld; flooding the Earth in Sanzu Water and allowing him to rule over the rest. Since Deker has been working under Serrator in exchange for the repairing of his sword Uramasa, the Rangers are afraid that Deker will break the Line for Serrator and put the Earth in grave danger. Antonio, having already won a smidgen of respect from the drifter and hesitating to cut him down when he sees the villain weakened, seeks him out and asks him to ignore Uramasa; as he'll be killing thousands of people if he does what Serrator asks. Desperate to change Deker's mind, he even gets on his hands and knees and begs. This disgusts Deker and almost gets the Gold Ranger beheaded. However, the timely arrival of Kevin and Mike saves him from certain doom. When Deker receives Uramasa from Serrator at the Line's weakest point; he decides to slice Serrator since Uramasa was all that mattered to him. This undoes the years of work Serrator put into his grand spell and opens the villain up to destruction from the Samurai Rangers. The Second Red Ranger After Master Xandred reveals himself to the Rangers, Jayden's sister Lauren arrives, having mastered the Sealing Symbol. With Jayden's secret revealed, he takes leave of the team and appoints Lauren as the new leader. Antonio feels that he has no duty to Lauren and goes off looking for Jayden in an effort to coax him home. He finds his best friend by the port and wants to buy him some food so the two can talk; but finds Jayden gone when he returns. After Antonio is defeated by the newest Nighlok Gigertox, Mentor Ji relays that Jayden and Deker are having a duel to the death. Due to his injuries, Antonio is forced to remain at Shiba House with Mentor Ji to recover as the others (sans Kevin, who goes a bit later on) go off to intervene. After many attempts to avoid interacting with Lauren, Antonio begins talking with her and befriends her; telling her about his experiences with Jayden as a child, saying that Jayden's treatment of him as an equal despite not being of Samurai blood was what gave him faith into the kindness of others. He also notes how similar to her brother Lauren really is. The two hit it off and choose to work together when Ji notifies them of a Mooger attack in the city. This culminates in Antonio assisting the other Rangers in distracting Xandred while Lauren prepares the Sealing Symbol. However, Xandred had absorbed Dayu into his body upon his return. With him being something other than a Nighlok, the Sealing Symbol is rendered useless. The Final Battle When the Sealing Symbol fails, Jayden and the Rangers decide to simply use force to cut Xandred down. Antonio joins the other Rangers in distracting Xandred long enough for Jayden to use the Double Disc to maximize his power for a Shogun Mode blitz. When Xandred grows to gigantic proportions, Antonio and the Rangers decide that the best way to take Xandred down is with a singular point-blank strike. With Xandred defeated by the gamble, the Rangers go their seperate ways; with Antonio hoping to go on a worldwide fishing expedition. Arsenal 'Symbol Power' The Samurai Rangers and their ancestors all possess Symbol Power, which allows the wielder to form any object immediately available to the imagination. This is done by drawing it's Kanji Translation into the air using the Samuraizer or any painting device. Antonio wields the Element of Light and has the Gold Symbol Power. How Antonio wields Symbol Power despite not being of Samurai ancestry is unknown. 'Zords' *Octo Zord *Claw Zord *Light Zord *Bullzord (Auxilliary) 'Weapons' *Barracuda Blade 'Other' *Gold Samurai Morpher *Power Disks *Black Box *Mega Armor *Mega Blade Trivia *While the Gold Ranger lacks most of the power-up modes used by the other Rangers in-show; Shogun and Super Mega Modes do exist for him in the toy-line and Nick.com games respectively. Category:Power Rangers Samurai Category:Power Rangers Super Samurai Category:Rangers Category:Samurai Rangers Category:Gold Rangers Category:Gold and Silver Rangers Category:Sixth Rangers Category:Male Rangers